Changes to the status of Romanian magistrates

The Senate passes bill on the status of judges and prosecutors, but the opposition plans to fight it.

Mihai Pelin, 20.12.2017, 14:11

The law on the
status of judges and prosecutors, the first in the package of justice laws, has
been adopted by the Romanian Senate, which is the decision-making forum on this
matter. The law has been changed as compared to the form in which it was
endorsed by the Chamber of Deputies.

According to one of
the modifications, the president of the country can refuse the nominations for
Prosecutor General and head prosecutors just one time. The most important
change, however, is that regarding the magistrates’ material liability and
potential penalties. The special committee that analysed the justice bill
initially rejected the amendments, but they were reformulated and then adopted
by the Senate. According to the new law, judicial error triggers judges’ and
prosecutors’ accountability if they performed their duties in bad faith or with
negligence. So, the state will act against the magistrate who committed a
judicial error. The Social Democrat MP Serban Nicolae, who initiated the
amendment, believes the provisions concerning magistrates’ accountability are
by no means an abuse or a means of putting pressure on them. Serban Nicolae:

Holding judges and prosecutors accountable is not an
act of repression or revenge. All public servants in this country are
accountable for what they do. What I have proposed regarding judges’ and
prosecutors’ accountability is a balanced solution. If a clerk makes a mistake
when issuing a certificate, it can be fixed. But when such an error occurs in a
court of law, there is no solution.

The bill has been harshly criticised by the
opposition, which has announced it will challenge it at the Constitutional
Court. The Liberal Senator Alina Gorghiu has stated that nobody trusts any more
the good intentions of the ruling coalition regarding the justice laws, which,
she says, affects the independence of the judiciary. Alina Gorghiu:

I’m calling on my colleagues from the majority
coalition to accept dialogue and debate, because we, the National Liberal
Party, want to explain to the Romanian citizens why this law is a bad law and
we won’t vote for it. Also, I believe it is the obligation of the Social
Democratic Party to explain why they believe the law is good, despite so much
criticism and opposition.

The law regarding the status of judges and
prosecutors was voted only by the Social Democratic Party, the Alliance of
Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians. The
representatives of the opposition, the National Liberal Party and the Save Romania
Union participated in the debates, but left the room when the voting started.
The Senators of the People’s Movement Party refused to take part in talks after
their request for the justice bill to be debated in the next parliamentary
session was rejected.